Chap. 35.

An Act further to amend the Indian Act

[Assented to 22nd July, 1895.]

Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enact as follows:--

1. The section substituted for section thirty-eight of The Indian Act, chapter forty-three of the Revised Statutes, by section three of chapter thirty-two of the Statutes of 1894 is hereby repealed and the following substituted therefor:--

"38. No reserve or portion of a reserve shall be sold alienated or leased until the same has been released or surrendered to the Crown for the purposes of the Act; provided that the Superintendent-General may lease, for the benefit of any Indian, upon his application for that purpose, the land to which he is entitled without the same being released or surrendered."

2. Section seventy of The Indian Act is hereby repealed and the following substitutes therefor:--

"70. The Governor in Council may, subject the provisions of this Act, direct how, and in what manner, and by whom the moneys arising from the disposal of Indian lands, or of property held or to be held in trust for Indians, or timber on Indian lands or reserves, or from any other source for the benefit f Indians, (with the exception of such sum not exceeding ten per cent of the proceeds of any lands, timber or property, as is agreed at the time of the surrender to be paid to the members of the band interested therein,) shall be invested from time to time, and how the payments or assistance to which the Indians are entitled shall be made or given; and may provide fir the general management of such moneys, and direct what percentage or proportion thereof shall be set apart, from time to time, to cover the cost of and incidental to the management of reserves, lands, property and moneys under the provision of this Act, and may authorize and direct the expenditure of such moneys for the construction or repair of roads, bridges, ditches and watercourses on such reserves or lands ,for the construction to school buildings, and by way of contribution to schools attended by such Indians"

3. Section seventy-five of The Indian Act is here repealed and the following substituted therefor:--

"73. Whenever the Governor in Council deemed it advisable, for the good government of a band to introduce the system of election or chiefs or headmen, he may provide that the chiefs or headmen of any band of Indians shall be elected, as hereinafter provided, at such a time and place as the Superintendent-General directs; and they shall, in such case, be elected foe a term of three years:

"2. Bands containing thirty or more Indians shall be entitled to elect chiefs or headmen in the proportion of one for each thirty members; but no band shall have more than fifteen chiefs or headmen: Provided that life chiefs, now living, shall continue to hold the rank of chief until death or resignation, or until their removal, by the Governor in Council, for dishonesty, intemperance, immortality or incompetency ; but in the event of the Governor in Council providing that the chiefs or headmen of a band shall be elected, the life chiefs or headmen shall not exercise the powers of chiefs or headmen, unless elected, under the provision aforesaid, to the exercise of such powers:"

"3. An election may be set aside by the Governor in Council on the report of the Superintendent-General, if it is proved by two witnesses before the Indian agent for the locality or such other person as is deputed by the Superintendent-General to take evidence in the matter, that fraud or gross irregularity was practiced at the said election; and every Indian who is proved guilty of such fraud or irregularity, or connivance thereat, may be declared ineligible for re-election for six years if the Governor in Council, on report of the Superintendent-General, so directs:

"4. Any elected or life chief or headmen, or any chief or headman chosen according to the custom of any band, may, on the ground of dishonesty, intemperance, immortality or incompetency, be deposed by the Governor in Council and declared ineligible to hold office of chief or headman for three years."

4. The Indian Act is hereby amended by adding the following section thereto, immediately after section eighty-eight:--

"88A. Whenever any member of a band, for three years immediately succeeding the date on which he was granted letters patent, or for any longer period that the Superintendent-General deems necessary, by his exemplary good conduct and management of property proves that he is qualified to receive his share of the moneys of such band, the Governor in Council may, on the report of the Superintendent-General to that effect, order that the said Indians be paid his share of the capital funds at the credit of the band, or his share of the principal of the annuities of the band, estimated as yielding five per cent, out of such moneys as are provided for the purpose by Parliament:

"2. If such Indian is a married man he shall also be paid his wife's and minor unmarried children's share of such funds and principal moneys, and if such Indian is a widow, she shall also be paid her minor unmarried children's shares:

"3. The Unmarried children of such married Indians who become of age during the probationary period, for payment of such moneys, if qualified by the character for integrity, morality, and sobriety which they bear, shall receive their own share of such moneys, when their parents are paid; and if not so qualified, before they receive payment of such moneys they must themselves pass through the probationary period:

"4. All such Indians, and their unmarried minor children, who are paid their shares of the principal moneys of the band, as aforesaid, shall thenceforward cease, in every respect, to be Indians of any class within the meaning of this Act, or Indians within the meaning of any other Act or law."

5. Section ninety-three of The Indian Act is hereby repealed and the following substituted therefor:--

"93. If any band, at a council summoned for the purpose according to their rules, and held in the presence of the Superintendent-General, or an agent duly authorized by him to attend such council, decides to allow every member of the band who chooses, and who is found qualified, to become enfranchised Indians of their shares of the capital funds at the credit of the band or of the estimated principal of the annuities of the band to which they are entitled."

6. Section one hundred and fourteen of The Indian Act is hereby repealed and the following substituted therefor:--

"114. Every Indian or other person who engages in, or assists in celebrating or encourages either directly or indirectly another to celebrate, any Indian festival, dance or other ceremony, goods or articles of any sort forms a part, or is a feature, whether such gift of money, goods or articles, takes place before, at, or after the celebration of the same, and every Indian or other person who engages or assists in any celebration or dance of which the wounding or mutilation of the dead or living body of any human being or animal forms a part or is a feature, is guilty of an indictable offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months and not less than two months; but nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent the holding of any agricultural show or exhibition or the giving or prizes for exhibits thereat."

7. Section one hundred and seventeen of The Indian Act as enacted by section eight of chapter thirty-two of the Statutes of 1894, is hereby repealed, and in lieu thereof it is hereby enacted that every Indian agent shall, for all the purposes of The Indian Act or of any other Act respecting Indians, and with the provisions of section ninety-eight or section one hundred and ninety of The criminal Code, 1892, and with respect to any offence against the provisions thereof or against any of the provisions of parts XIII, and XV, of the said Code, be ex officio a Justice of the Peace, and have the power and authority of two Justices of the Peace , anywhere within the territorial limits of his jurisdiction as a Justice, as defined in his appointment or otherwise defined by the Governor in Council, whether the Indian or non-treaty Indian charged with or in any way concerned in or effected by the offence, matter or thing to be tried, investigated or dealt with, is or is not within his ordinary jurisdiction, charge or supervision as an Indian agent.

"2. In the North-West Territories and the provinces of Manitoba and British Columbia every Indian agent shall for all such purposes and with respect to any such offence be ex officio a Justice of the Peace and have the power and authority of two justices of the peace anywhere in the said territories or provinces, whether or not the territorial limits of his jurisdiction as a justice, as defined in his appointment or otherwise defined as aforesaid, extend to the place where he may have occasion to act as such justice or to exercise such power and authority, and whether the Indian charged with or in any way concerned in or affected by the offence, matter or thing to be tried, investigated or otherwise dealt with, are or are not within the ordinary jurisdiction, charge or supervision as Indian agent."

8. The Indian Act is hereby amended by adding the following sections thereto:--

"140. When by a majority vote of a band, or the council of a band, and Indian of one band is admitted into membership in another band, and his admission thereinto is assented to by the Superintendent-General, such Indian shall cease to have any interest in the lands or moneys of the band of which he was formerly a member, and shall be entitled to share in the lands and moneys of the band to which he id so admitted; but the Superintendent-General may cause to be deducted from the capital of the band of which such Indian was formerly a member his per capita share of such capital and place the same to the credit of the band into membership on which he had been admitted in the manner aforesaid.

"141. The Governor in Council may reduce the purchase money due or to become due on sales of Indian lands, or reduce the rent at which Indian lands have been leased, when he considers the same to be excessive ; and al such reduction heretofore made are hereby confirmed.

"2. A return setting forth all the reductions and remissions made under this section during the preceding fiscal year shall be submitted to both House of Parliament on or before the twentieth day of July in each year, if Parliament on or before then sitting, and otherwise within twenty days after the opening of the then ensuing session of parliament."